Coursedog going live August 21

The new course and program approval system, Coursedog, will launch on August 21, 2023. Training is available in the training hub for those who currently have edit or approval access in ECAS (Course) or PCAS (Program) to complete. The four training modules are:

• Course Author (for ECAS editors)
• Course Approver (for ECAS approvers)
• Program Author (for PCAS editors)
• Program Approver (for PCAS approvers)

If you did not have edit or approval access in ECAS or PCAS before but could view information in either system, you will have the same “view only” access in Coursedog once it goes live. Additional information can be found on the Coursedog Project website.

ECAS/PCAS "freeze"

The ECAS and PCAS “freeze” begins on July 8, 2023. This is when the data transfers from ECAS and PCAS to Coursedog. A few things to keep in mind during the freeze:

• All ECAS and PCAS users (at all levels) will no longer have access to make changes, but view-only access remains.
• Any proposal that is not fully approved in ECAS or PCAS will not be transferred to Coursedog. Those proposals will need to be entered into Coursedog after go-live.

Training

The Coursedog training courses plan to be available on Monday, July 17, in training hub. There will be four, 30-minute online courses, based on the end user’s role(s):

• Course Author
• Program Author
• Course Approver
• Program Approver

Completion of these courses is required for current ECAS and PCAS editors and approvers to maintain their access. Notification of training requirements will be sent to individuals in July.

Coursedog change to go live date

Coursedog will now launch at the end of August 2023, instead of its originally planned launch date of June 2023, to ensure the highest possible system quality for University faculty and staff at go-live.

As part of the implementation, there was already a planned freeze/frost period where entering data into either ECAS or PCAS will no longer be possible. With the timeline adjustment, this period will now begin on May 5, 2023. Please plan to submit all fall 2023 program and course proposals prior to May 5. We recommend submitting proposals no later than April 21, 2023 to allow for time to ask for clarification or make edits.

To ease the transition to this new product, please do not enter or approve proposals dated after fall 2023 in ECAS or PCAS. Spring 2024 and beyond course updates should be entered into Coursedog after go-live.

Note: This will impact when topics titles can be entered and approved for the spring 2024 semester. You’ll want to make sure you have the topics data you need ready to go and enter when Coursedog goes live in August 2023.

Coursedog update

Many of you know we are replacing our ECAS and PCAS systems with Coursedog. Decisions on timeline have been made, including when ECAS and PCAS will no longer be available for updates. This information, and more, can be found on the Coursedog project page.

Join the Coursedog Google group to have monthly status updates and invitations to community events sent directly to your inbox. Just click the "joining the group" link on the group page!

For questions, please contact coursedog@umn.edu.